ITS student, Ms Nicole Galea is the overall winner at the 13th G&T Cup 2018, a cocktail competition held in Slovenia. Ms Galea was awarded 1st in music combination, 1st in technique and overall winner out of 30 competitors, coming from 12 different countries.

Ms Galea was accompanied by ITS student, Ms Alana Attard, who also competed and placed in the top ten. ITS lecturer and the student’s mentor for the past weeks, Mr Richard Pons accompanied the students and said that ‘As a lecturer, I consider today as the peak of my career. I have had students that are now my colleagues, students working in management at leading businesses, however, to have a student win an international cocktail competition and another getting good points, that I consider as the most rewarding.’

The most striking aspect of this competition is that music is considered an essential link in the chain. Each competitor required to not only work with a cocktail rooted in a spirit base, but also connect a musical genre to the brand name of this type of beverage. The participants will have to fashion a cocktail inspired by a particular song or musical genre. Points were awarded according to how successfully the students managed to combine the cocktail and music and explain their creation, coming up with a background story in order to explain the reason for each specific amalgamation. As previously mentioned, ITS student Ms Nicole Galea was awarded first in music combination. Competitors for this competition were assessed by means of a written exam, as well as the actual cocktail competition.

In a joint statement, ITS Chairman and CEO, Mr Carlo Micallef and Mr Pierre Fenech, respectively, stated, ‘It brings great joy to ITS management to receive wonderful news that one of our students has won this prestigious competition. Both students not only represented ITS but also Malta and they have made us both proud. This award manifests ITS’ standing in food and beverage service and bartending, and even more, shows that our students and graduates excel and guarantee an exceptional standard.’